Abortion rights campaign
It is Unite policy to defend women’s abortion
rights. Despite attempts by the anti-abortion lobby to lower
the 24-week time limit on abortion time limit in 2008 via the Human
Embryology Bill, women's rights were successfully defended and
maintained. Abortion Rights ran a big campaign with the full
support of Unite to ensure that the long fight for women's right to
abortion was not eroded.
Women campaigned for the 1967 Abortion Act and
the legal right to abortion has saved the lives and ensured the
good health of hundreds of thousands of women. The issue
of later abortions has become the subject of intense media and
policy interest with concerns about the ethics of continuing
abortion up to 24 weeks. The decision to have an abortion is
one which women never take lightly, particularly when the decision
has to be made later in pregnancy. Less than 2% of abortions take
place after 20 weeks, but they are needed by women who face
exceptional and very difficult circumstances. They are
required for compelling reasons — most commonly because of late
diagnosis (peri-menopausal women or women using contraception);
women subjected to trauma at conception (rape or abuse);
serious NHS delays; or due to catastrophic changes in their life
circumstances (serious issues with an existing child or domestic
violence).
The current debate on abortion has been
dominated by a misleading narrative that there have been dramatic
scientific breakthroughs in foetal viability and sentience in
recent years. There have been developments in foetal medicine, but
none that requires a reappraisal of the status of the foetus, and
none that would make anyone more qualified to make a choice about a
pregnancy than the woman concerned. As the Commons’ Science and
Technology Committee’s recent Inquiry into the scientific aspects
of abortion concluded:
“while survival rates at 24
weeks (the current upper limit for abortion) and over have
improved since 1990, survival rates (viability) have
not done so below that gestational point. The Committee
concludes that there is no scientific basis - on the grounds on
viability - to reduce the upper time limit.”
83 per cent of the British public
support a woman’s right to choose.
Unite continues to defend and support the
right for women to choose to have an abortion. If you wish to
support the campaign please join Abortion Rights as an
individual, but please encourage your union Branches to join
as well.
For more information see the Abortion Rights
website on http://www.abortionrights.org.uk/
Email to a friend
Want to share this story? These sites allow you to tag and share links across the internet enabling you to share these links with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
